James Brasuell, AICP is the former editorial director of Planetizen and is now a senior public affairs specialist at the Southern California Association of Governments. James managed all editorial content and direction for Planetizen from 2014 to 2023, and was promoted from manging editor to editorial director in 2021. After a first career as a class five white water river guide in Trinity County in Northern California, James started his career in Los Angeles as a volunteer at a risk reduction center in Skid Row. Prior to joining Planetizen, James worked at the Cal Poly Pomona College of Environmental Design, as an editor at Curbed LA, as editor of The Planning Report, and as a freelance contributor for The Architect’s Newspaper, the Urban Land Institute – Los Angeles Chapter, FORM, KCET, and the California Planning & Development Report.
Updated: Two Cities Emerge as Front Runners for Amazon's HQ2
According to leaked information, Northern Virginia, Dallas, and New York City were in the lead in the competition to land the location of the second Amazon headquarters. Now sources report the company will split the HQ2 footprint between two cities.
New Global Survey of the Ethics of Autonomous Vehicles
A paper published in the journal Nature reveals the findings of a survey of 2 million people in 200 countries on the ethics of the "trolley problem" as applied to self-driving cars.
Trump Administration's Error-Riddled Fuel-Economy Rules
The official case for repealing car fuel-economy rules is so full of errors it will be hard to defend in court.
Peter Calthorpe's Self-Driving Car Dissent
The founder of New Urbanism takes his autonomous vehicle skepticism, and ideas for other solutions to congestion, to the pages of the New York Times.
A History of State-Mandated Upzonings in the Pacific Northwest
Past examples of state and provincial governments preempting the land use authority of local governments present several lessons on how to do state-mandated upzoning effectively.